Italy's Witches and Medicine Women, Volume 1

by Karyn Crisis

Karyn Crisis never had the chance to decide if the spirit world was real or imaginary. She has been able to sense the unseen world of passed-on relatives, angels, and ghosts since childhood. Training as a Spiritualist Medium as an adult, she became a popular platform Medium and healer in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2009, she took a fateful trip to Italy's Tuscany Region, which would have a lasting impact far beyond what she could have ever imagined: Goddesses from Italy's history suddenly began appearing to Karyn as clearly as other spirit people had, and they began transmitting to her the information of a most interesting cultural melting pot in Italy that gave rise to its unique and complex spiritual landscape. Among the information shared was the knowledge of Italy's own indigenous Lineage healing: a female shamanism hiding in-plain-sight that can be traced back to pre-pagan times. One thing was clear: Mediumship was and is the cornerstone of all these traditions, and it function has been to advance the quality of life through the process of channeling, whereby previously hidden knowledge from the spirit world is handed down to earthly women. Following the guidance of the Goddesses, Karyn returned to Italy where she embarked on a long and intensive research study. Taking cures from "streghe," meeting herbalists on mountain tops, experiencing a 6 hour ancestral fire ritual with secret shaman called Benandanti, having a past-life curse released through making "occhi," interviewing local authors and museum curators, archivists, folk lore experts, and Inquisition researchers, living among locals and walking on the remains of the Goddess Diana's 2,000 year old temple, Karyn found the historical evidence to support what the Goddesses had shown her in visions. Italy's Witches and Medicine Women Volume 1 not only documents the information Karyn gathered through the 23 people she interviewed, but it also provides a comprehensive spiritual history of the "Italian Witch" and reveals an important matrilineal living practice supplanted by the patriarchal invasions of pre-pagan times, whose acts of repression still affect the world today. Along with documentation of a groundbreaking history of women, you will also find practical tips on how to prepare yourself to reconnect with this female Lineage. Between each chapters Karyn reveals her visionary journey to this evidential history in short stories called "Secrets," sure to bring understanding and illumination to your journey into the world of Spirit. Karyn has also developed "Italy's Witches and Medicine Women" into a Lecture Series with video interview footage, photos, and a brief overview of the enormous body of information her book contains.

340 pages, Paperback

Published October 9, 2017

Reviews

[Elisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciate all that the author did to compile this information: there is info in here I have not seen anywhere else, and through her references I found good resources with which to dive in more deeply into the subject. My critiques are not so much on the topic/subject matter but the delivery...

There were so many structural, organizational, and grammatical errors that were distracting, frustrating, and hard to follow. The editing was terrible and unfortunately this was extremely detrimental to my experience reading through it and my ability to even understand some of the information. There’s a ridiculous amount of both randomly applied and missing punctuation, random letters inserted into a word (as if typing too fast), names and words misspelled multiple times, sentences that are almost indecipherable...and more!

All of this interfered with the impact of the information and the enjoyment of reading this book, which is such a shame because there is so much that the author shares from her journey. I felt that I bought a first or second draft of a manuscript, not a presentable final copy of a book. Hoping the next edition will be edited more thoroughly!

[Dina Maio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was not as I had expected. I thought it would be similar to other books I had read on the subject, but it is not. The author really did her homework. The book is well researched with a thorough history of women healers and spirituality of the Italian peninsula since ancient times to present day. The author traveled to Italy and interviewed experts in the field. There are a lot of surprises in this book, and I learned a lot about what happened to women during the Inquisition and why they were called "witches." This book discusses the destructiveness of patriarchy as well as the evils perpetrated on women in furtherance of economic goals. The author has a great respect for the subject matter and for the Italian culture. I'm Italian American, and I was familiar with some of the information in this book--but not all. I think the author has a good grasp of the Italian culture and mindset. Yes, I noticed the typos, and the book could use some editing, but the subject matter and the author's passion rise above the typos. This book left me wanting more and wanting the author to delve deeper into these topics. I'm glad a Vol. 2 is in the works. Thank you, Karyn, for listing the names of the women killed during the witch hunt. These women should not be forgotten.

[MzWtch · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a shame the editing here is so poor. The typos, often poor sentence structure, repeating information/ideas, etc. makes the book very difficult to get through. Very disappointing, as there are so few books on Italian Witchcraft and folk magic available.

Another caution: this book is very heavy on UPG (unverified personal gnosis). While the bibliography has many good sources for historical information, the bulk of the writing here is based on author's mediumistic experiences and personal interpretations/opinions of them. This is not so much a problem, except that it is not outwardly stated as being UPG anywhere that I could find, and instead some parts are presented as fact. It is also very heavy on women and the feminine side of things, which is rooted in the author's UPG an interpretation of history. She does touch on men and the masculine a bit (though typically in a not-so-positive manner), but the only acknowledgement I saw to non-binary didn't come until around page 287. Many readers may be turned off by this long before reading so far into the book.

Otherwise, the book is definitely interesting. The author's interviews with current medicine women and practitioners are certainly unique, and would have been amazing to read if the editing/formatting were consistent and not so distracting. The historical information contained seemed to be researched, accurate, and cited and the bibliography gave me several sources to dig into further (there would be even more, if I could read Italian!).

If this book ever sees an editor, I will happily purchase a new copy and re-read enthusiastically!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read-delves into Italian culture, history, folklore, and magick passed down through oral story telling. Saw her speak a few years back: Karyn is a fascinating story teller and healer. Editing is rough and doesn’t do the content justice, but defintely recommend it.

[Claudia Wagel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally a book on Italian witchcraft...it's very difficult to find...as Italians are very closed mouth about it.
Karen gets some information that I tried to get from my family and couldn't!! If you are Italian and interested in Italian witchcraft...these 2 volumes are a must read!